Thing 3

I do not find this blog tool very user friendly. I seem to get lost and not be able to see everything on one page as I think I should. I shall continue to plod through in hopes that my fellow bloggers will help me find my way.

How might a blog support the work you do? Blogging is a great way to share ideas with my peers on how to use technology with their students.

How might you use a blog with students? I would like to start with working with a teacher on using a blog to have students respond to literature or a story in their anthology. Because the curriculum is identical in might be a good learning experience to have 2 classes of the same grade in different schools respond to a story in the anthology.

How might they respond to a blog assignment? Students could comment on an open ended question from a teacher, could collaborate on a science experiment or even work on collaboratively solving a math problem.

What concerns do you have about educational blogging? The lack of access to the Internet is always a roadblock. Since not all students have access to the Internet outside of school it is always a sticky wicket to have a mandatory assignment that requires access. I also have concerns about the quality of the comments that get posted especially when using blogs with younger students unless the teacher can see the comments before they go "out to the world."

Thing 1 and Thing 2:

I am participating in 23 things as a way to learn new things with my peers in hopes that I will be able to implement some "tech" activities with teachers and students in the fall. I am also participating because summer for me lately is a "sad" time and this helps me stay engaged and upbeat. I hope to learn about some inventive ways to get students to discuss what they read and what they think about curricular topics. I have assisted with a blog activity with an 8th grade class and saw how engaged students were in what they were writing and how much more they included in their responses because they were using the computer and not the "dreaded blue book." I agree with all that the students said but am still unsure of how we can incorporate these new initiatives and tools and still get our assessments and required tasks done. My biggest fear about writing for the Internet is that people will think less of me because I don't write well.